Shaping San Francisco

Just returned from the walking tour called South of the Slot, which was expertly led by Chris Carlsson and LisaRuth Elliott. I have been a resident of SF for 30 years, and have participated in dozens of historical walking tours. This one is surely one of the best. I learned more about SF social and labor history in 2 hours than I had in several decades. Chris and LisaRuth are extremely knowledgeable about everything from sand dunes, to Filipino history, to sacred grounds of the Ohlone Indians. I highly recommend this tour, and any other they are likely to lead in the future.

NO better way to appreciate SF than touring around on a bike legion with Chris leading, IMHO. Chris’s encyclopedic knowledge is amazing and delightful. If you want to see a SF you’ve likely never seen or imagined, do it! (Kingfishers on the shoreline? check. Subterranean rivers? check. Visibly sinking buildings? check.)
A great day in SF: SSF bike ride, Rainbow Grocery visit, burrito in the Mission and drinks at Farallon. Not necessarily in that order.

Chris Carlsson, a San Francisco labor historian, manages four-​hour, information intensive bicycle tours targeted to people who want to learn and want access to scholarly sources of information.
These tours are great for people who want to understand the history of regular working people in San Franscisco and what the city has meant to the majority of its residents over time. Chris is well-​connected to other historians of peoples’ activist movements and can provide references to most of what he tells.
He is a pleasure to hear speak. Persons taking the tour are expected to have their own bicycles. Expect the tour group to consist mostly of native San Franciscans and not of out-​of-​town visitors, however anyone who wants to learn a lot about working class people in San Francisco in a hurry should take any of these tours.
Four hours of tour seems like a long time in comparison to tours targeted at visitors on a schedule, but anyone who wants information and to see physical locations to imprint that information forever in their minds will like this tour.
The tours are by donation and the recommended donation is $ 15 – 50. Anyone who wants the tour but has little money should take one — I was thoroughly impressed with Chris’ sincere desire to share his research with as many people as possible.